Going gets tough in Sirte

Last front * Despite days of fighting,many gains,rebels fail to take control.

KAREEM FAHIM

From the windows of an apartment overlooking this seaside town,a commander peered through binoculars and yelled orders into a walkie-talkie,directing fire at a white building in the distance flying Muammar Gaddafi s green flag.

The commander,who called himself Rake,said he was helping to coordinate a multipronged attack on the colonels loyalists,who still control a large swath of central Sirte weeks after the anti-Gaddafi fighters launched an attack to capture the town. Somewhere on the ground below,his colleagues called Rambo,Black Crow and Gorilla followed his instructions,firing mortars and a recoilless rifle toward a target they could not see. Shell,Rambo,shell! Rake barked. But the round missed. One hundred meters to the right,and a bit higher, Rake ordered.

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The view from the window offered a glimpse of the challenge still facing the fighters,who are desperate to claim control of Sirte,declare the war over and start forming a new government.

Standing in the way of that goal,the Gaddafi troops still control miles of territory,including tall structures apartment blocks,hotels and administrative buildings that offer comfortable nests for loyalist snipers and urban cover for their artillery teams.

For several miles,buildings like the sprawling apartment blocks known as the 1,000 dominate the landscape. On Monday,they preoccupied the former rebels,who had spent days trying to capture difficult ground,only to find themselves confronted with a daunting new challenge. At least a fifth of the citys 100,000 residents are thought to have fled,aid workers said. On Monday,a team from the Red Cross tried to evacuate 100 patients from Ibn Sina hospital,but was having trouble finding Libyan hospitals that could take the patients,according to Dibeh Fakhr,a spokeswoman.

Late Monday afternoon,the Red Cross workers left,having evacuated only eight patients and promising to try again on Tuesday.

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Inside the hospital,former rebel soldiers roamed the halls,questioning patients about their injuries and whether they had fought with Gaddafi troops.

One anti-Gaddafi fighter asked a patient whether he had been a soldier. The patient,a man in his early 20s,said he had not. If youre clean,youll be leaving, the fighter said. If youre not,you wont.